More About This Web site:

We are very different from almost all other religious web sites:

There are millions of religious web sites on the Internet. Almost all explain only the beliefs of the webmaster or of the sponsoring group. Most promote only their own denomination, tradition, sect, or faith group as having the "fullness of truth."

This web site is different. We try to accurately compare and contrast the beliefs of many faith groups, and how they have changed over time. We explain how they are contributing to tolerance and intolerance in the world.

Sadly, research into why people believe as they do has shown that many search out web sites, the media, TV programs, etc. that support and confirm their own beliefs. We feel that sites like ours can help people understand what others think and why they think the way that they do.

Current high profile topics in the U.S. with a religious component that are discussed on this web site:

For a decade or two, homosexuality, bisexuality, and other topics related to sexual orientation were very heavily covered in the media, the rest of the Internet, etc. However, with the legalization of gay marriage in mid-2015, other topics became very popular.

Of the many religious topics saturating the news, the following appear to have the highest profile right now. Many of the topics are related to human sexuality and/or gender.

• Abortion access: In what situations should informed women be free to choose to have an abortion: all, none, or some? What are the best ways to reduce abortions: by restricting access, by making child raising more feasible, or by increasing contraceptive usage. Whether educating sexually active youth in how to prevent pregnancy and STIs will lower or raise the abortion rate is often debated. There is general agreement that a zygote -- a just-fertilized ovum -- is a form of life. Since it has human DNA, it is a form of human life. There is also general agreement that a newborn is a form of human life that is also a human person. There core disagreement about abortion debates is when human personhood actually begins: at conception, at birth, or some time inbetween.
  
  
• Islamophobia: This involves fear, anger, hatred, and/or discrimination directed against Muslims. Some target the 19 perpetrators of 9/11; others target a group of violent radicals within Islam; some even express opposition against Muslims trying to escape violence in their country of origin; some attack all of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims.
  
  
• Religious freedom:  This term has two very different meanings. In the past it referred to people being free to believe as they wish, assemble with others of the same religious tradition, engage in different religious practices, proselytize others, etc. However, it is now rapidly evolving to mean something very different: to use religious freedom to oppress, denigrate, and attack women and minorities -- particularly sexual minorities -- in violation of the Golden Rule.
  
  
• Transgender persons and transsexuals: These terms refer to people who were identified as being of one gender when they were born, and who now identify being of the opposite gender or, rarely, as having no gender or an intermediate gender. With the legalization of same-sex marriage during mid-2015, many religious and socially conservative agencies who opposed equality for lesbians, gays and bisexuals quickly switched much of their emphasis to opposing equal rights for transgender persons and transsexuals.
  
  
• "Boy Scouts of America" (BSA): The BSA has made major strides in ending its discrimination against LGBT youth and adults. However, the BSA's ban on Atheists, Agnostics, secular Humanists and other non-theists as members continues.
  

This web's most popular sections:

Up to a quarter million unique visitors come to this web site each week. However, about 97% of our visitors bypass this home page entirely and go to sections dealing with specific topics.

Recently, the most popular section is Agnosticism, followed by World religions' beliefs & practices, Buddhism, Islam, Wicca, a neo-pagan religion, Hinduism, Homosexuality in the Bible, Human embryo & fetal development, Same-sex marriage, Christianity, Sharia law, Data about world religions, The Amish, Taoism, Our group's statement of beliefs, Naturist info., and Homosexual orientation/LGBT topics.

• How this web site differs from almost all other web sites. The definitions that we use, our mandate, and motto.
  
  
• Web site news.
  
  

Disclaimer:

Information for these essays was extracted from reliable sources, and believed to be accurate and reasonably unbiased. Where possible, they have been reviewed by a group (typically of 3 or more persons) who follow the belief before the material is placed online. However, the entire field of religion is very subjective. Multiple, conflicting, and often mutually exclusive opinions abound. Before accepting anything on this web site that may have a direct impact on your own or somebody else's life, we recommend that you check out its validity with other information sources.

If you find any errors here, please report them so that we can list them on our errata page and correct our essays. A Contact Us link is at the bottom of almost every page in our web site.

Footnotes:

1. The six religions on the left navigation bar include the three largest faiths in North America and the three most visited faiths on our web site.
   
   
2. According to Google, our home page's page rank is currently: out of 10. Page rank is a measure of the relative importance of a page, in the opinion of Google.
   
   
3. We are strongly:
   
   
4. This web site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com.

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For copyright purposes, this web site is registered as "Religious Tolerance: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance."

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Copyright © Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Author: B.A. Robinson
Most recently updated: 2017-JUL-05

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